the lost art of KFP2 ipad app
tldr; search for a lost piece of kung fu panda media featuring extra concept art, exclusive behind-the-scenes content and miscellaneous material from both movies.
in anticipation of the 15th anniversary of kung fu panda 2 coming up on may 26th, i've decided to do an updated write-up of sorts on a piece of KFP lost media - the art of kung fu panda 2 app for the ipad.
on may 17th of 2011, insight editions published ''the art of kung fu panda 2'', an artbook for the movie that showcased kung fu panda 2's production and development, featuring various pieces of concept art as well as providing insight on characters, scenes and locations.
in addition to the physical artbook, insight editions released an in-house companion app of the same name to accompany it for itunes, ''the art of kung fu panda 2'', advertised by a sticker within the physical artbook, as well as the kung fu panda website and other places.
the app served as supplementary material to the artbook itself, featuring more of an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the movie, including; galleries with characters, locations, storyboards, color scripts, and other miscellaneous content exclusive to the app, artwork and video curated by UX designer jason babler who art directed the app at insight editions and worked closely with raymond zibach, production designer on KFP2, to bring the world of kung fu panda to life.
pictured below are some screenshots from within the app showing the layout and sections, courtesy of jason babler/itunes store
however, the app is no longer available to purchase or download due to insight edition's contract expiring with dreamworks. according to jason babler, he used a 3rd party application to make the app but unfortunately does not possess any of the actual files themselves, only screenshots of the thumbnails.
dreamwork's own website listed many mobile apps back in 2012 under the ''mobile'' section, which included the art of kung fu panda 2. towards the end of 2012, the website underwent a revamp. according to the wayback machine, the app no longer appeared on the website in 2013. there's a possibility that the app could've been removed from itunes around the same time, though there is a snapshot capture for the itunes link dating to september of 2013, and two other captures dating to november of 2014 and april of 2015, however both are unloadable.
in late 2011, there was a 15-part documentary focusing on the character of lord shen uploaded to youtube by a user named leoandlamb, which preserves some content and information from the app.
the ''raymond's collection'' gallery features a showcase of concept art for the shadow puppet opening sequence at the beginning of the movie. most of these were designed by jason brubaker, one of the visual development artists for KFP2. the ''shadow puppet birth'' scene and ''shadow puppet prophecy'' were originally only found in the app, but later uploaded to jason brubaker's artstation, though the latter slightly differed in appearance.
some other things that were featured in the app
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
janainaart
areudirty
origamiaround
theartofmadeline
dededos
